None of the words I can think of adequately describe the fabulous time we had! We spent our first two days on Florida's Gold Coast in Ft. Lauderdale Beach. Our room was located directly on the beach, which was just a few steps from our door.
Please click on photos to enlarge and to view the entire photo.

It was a warm evening in May, in fact the third warm evening in a row, when the phone rang just before dark. It was our daughter, Robin, calling to inquire about her window air conditioner. My wife and I had stored it for her in our attic during the off-season, and she allowed as how it was getting rather warm in her apartment. Could I please come and install her air conditioner? Being the ever dutiful and doting parent, I responded, “Of course!”

This article concludes the series, "Looking Beyond the Garden." As we’ve seen in two of the previous articles, a tiny portion of something exploded into space and grew to an enormous size. It created a universe of matter and energy, from which grew nebulas, stars, and planets, among other things. And eventually it produced abundant life on the planet Earth. The universe is still expanding today, a phenomenon that can be measured scientifically. But what came before this Big Bang?

This is the third in a series of articles looking beyond my garden to see nature's bigger picture. In the first article, "Looking Beyond the Garden: A Convinced Gardener Considers Climate Change," I focused on the planet Earth and one of the ways in which its atmosphere is affected by what goes on here. In the second article I ventured beyond our atmosphere into outer space to consider some of the fantastic discoveries made by modern physics. In the current article I will consider the Higgs boson and the significance of its discovery.

This is the second in a series of articles looking beyond my garden to see the bigger picture. In the first article, Looking Beyond the Garden: A Convinced Gardener Considers Climate Change (to access, click on the word "Articles" in the column to the right), I focused on the planet Earth and one of the ways in which its atmosphere is affected by what goes on here. The rest of the series ventures beyond our atmosphere into outer space to consider some of the fantastic discoveries made by modern physics.

As a gardener, I’m concerned about climate change and convinced that it is real. While I love the intimate relationship I have with the soil and the plants in my garden, I know that I need to look past them to larger, more global issues that will ultimately affect me and my garden as well as those who come after me.

Having been born into a German-speaking family, I knew at an early age that my last name means “radish.” It wasn’t until recently, though, that I realized that I had never looked into the history of this crisp and spicy root vegetable that also happens to be my namesake. I’ve set about to remedy that.

A sure harbinger of spring, and perhaps the earliest one, is the flowing of sap in sugar maples. Interestingly, the notion that sap rises up the tree from the roots in spring and goes back down to the roots in fall is completely erroneous.

Peonies are particularly popular pass-alongs, not only because they’re beautiful in bloom, but also because they’re extremely tough and long-lived. Of particular note among these peonies is an early red one called the Double Fern Leaf Peony (Paeonia tenuifolia 'Rubra Flora Plena'). Its leaves are unique to the peony world, as its name implies. So how did so many of these peonies find their way to seven villages in Iowa?

Leaving the Khanate, Poinsett and his party set their sights on the Caspian Sea and the city of Baku in Azerbaijan. There he marveled at the pools of petroleum oozing from the earth and predicted that someday this amazing substance might well be used for fuel. He noted that the pools were often set ablaze by a sect of fire worshipers.

I've come to realize that as far as plants are concerned, this time of year belongs as much to the poinsettia as it does to the Christmas tree. It pops up everywhere and in ever-changing variations. There is the basic red, the white, and now pink and cream, all pink, red and cream, and even a double red pompom variety.

Just like that pair of jeans in one's closet is often the foundation of one's wardrobe, so tulips are a mainstay, not in closets, but in spring garden beds all over the world. From those early days when species tulips were first collected in the wilds of Kazakhstan, to the frenzied “tulipomania” that gripped Holland in the 1630s, to the thousands of varieties that find a home in gardens today, tulips have become one of the world’s most easily recognized and beloved flowers. It appears that their popularity may soon take a new direction.

Replacing zippers or buttons on clothing. Fastening shoe straps. Mounting a smoke detector on a wall or ceiling. Securing cushions to outdoor furniture. Hanging signs. This is but a small sampling of the 101 uses of Velcro. No doubt about it, Velcro has taken the world by storm.

When I first came upon this issue a number of years ago, I chuckled to myself, deeming it silly to even pursue such a topic. But curiosity eventually got the better of me. I started doing some research.

A battle for control of the seeds you sow in your garden is raging in the worlds of home gardening and large-scale agriculture. Corporations are spending billions of dollars to win that war. At stake are thousands of plant varieties that we as gardeners have come to know and love. [INSPIRED BY INTERESTING AND SOMETIMES PASSIONATE READER RESPONSE, I HAVE DONE SOME ADDITIONAL RESEARCH AND OFFER MY FINDINGS AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE.]

Some of our most popular temperate-zone fruits may have originated in a single region of the world. The region is somewhat remote and exotic, one that we Westerners have paid little attention to. It encompasses the sliver of land between the Caspian- and Black Seas and spreads east into southern Kazakhstan and then into the Tian Shan and Kun Lun mountain ranges along and south of Kazakhstan’s border with China (see map below).

In a previous Cubits article I explored with my readers one kind of relationship we can have with plants, that of likening flowers and flower parts to objects we’re familiar with in the real world. In this article, I’ll explore ways in which flowers and plants evoke emotional responses.

Perhaps you remember from your own childhood—or that of a friend or relative—the art of making “dolls” wearing gowns fashioned from Hollyhock blossoms. Flower shapes and colors can remind us of real-life objects. Dutchman’s Pipe, Lady’s Slipper Orchid, and Stella d’Oro (Italian for “star of gold”) come to mind. Bleeding Heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis) belongs to this group as well, but its blossoms are special because they reveal an entire story. This is how it’s told.

Weddings are such wonderful occasions. Some of my male friends barely tolerate them, but l always look forward to the event. It's filled with such pagentry and genuine emotion. Sometimes there are surprises. A barefoot bride for example. A squadron of bagpipers. Nontraditional songs and dress.

As a gardener and avid reader of articles and books related to gardening and horticulture, I’ve more than once stumbled upon a curious assertion that the Bread Seed Poppy, Papaver somniferum, is actually the Opium Poppy and therefore illegal to grow. I didn’t give the claim much credence, because the seed is sold openly by such venerable establishments as Thompson and Morgan, Burpee, Park Seed, Cooks Garden Seeds, and many others.

As a gardener--especially if you’re a fan of the wildly popular clumping grasses—you may be familiar with a grass called Calamagrostis acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster,’ more commonly known as Feather Reed Grass. In 2001 it was even named the Perennial Plant of the Year by the U.S. Perennial Plant Association. But it’s not the plant that is the subject of this article. It’s the man.

Until recently, most gardeners in temperate zones in the U.S., in Canada, and throughout much of Europe have paid little attention to the strict ecological requirements of the perennials we plant in our gardens.
(Note: This article does not display well in most versions of Internet Explorer. Please use Firefox. If you need to download it, you may do so free of charge at the end of this article.)